The Gooding County Sheriff’s office responded to the dispatch at about 9:40 a.m. at the 600 block of West Avenue F.

“It appears that a three-year-old boy got up on a freezer, which allowed him to get on top of the fridge where there was a loaded handgun,” said Sheriff Shaun Gough said.

Gough said the parents told him the gun did have a lock on it. Early on in the investigation they did not find a lock, but the sheriff later confirmed they found a lock on the gun and believed the lock was either defective or the boy was able to unlock it.

The boy then shot his sister after he climbed down from the fridge.

“It was a through and through. No broken bones, so it’s not that critical,” Gough said.

No gun shots were heard around the area, a local business owner across the street said.

“I have cameras around the premises and I was wondering what was going on,” said owner Gary Westlake.

Westlake said he does not know the family personally, but has seen them around.

“I’ve seen the kids running kind of rapidly out on the road,” he continued. “It’s not a good thing to do. They need to be a little more aware of what’s going on with their children.”

The mother of the kids was in the living room and the father was at work at the time of the incident.

The girl was taken to North Valley Medical Center and the sheriff said the girl was getting ready to be released around 11:10 a.m.

A detective and deputy were still on scene until about 11:45 a.m., where Health and Welfare came to the scene as a procedure.

The mom and the boy left with the detective and Health and Welfare.

“We’ll just continue our investigation. We’ll look into other issues that are going on in the house,” Gough said.